The set of “Three Sisters” evokes a provincial Russian home at the turn of the 20th century. As the curtain opens, a winter wind whistles across the stage and bare trees encroach on the set. The pale blue backdrop draws a sharp contrast to the bright reds and greens of the sofas, rugs and decorations of the Prozorov home.
Bleak yet vibrant, the set mirrors the conditions of playwright Anton Chekhov’s characters. Andrei, played by Communication senior Andrew Perez, feels isolated and alone; he dreams of returning to Moscow to live an intellectual’s life. Masha, portrayed by Communication senior Mamie Gummer, is unhappily married to a teacher and frustrated with the coarseness of her life. Irina, performed by Communication junior Kerry Bish�, complains of a lack of spirit at her telegraph office job.
“Chekhov is about people being foolish, wise, disappointing, succeeding, failing,” says Mary Poole, the show’s director and a senior lecturer in the theatre department. “It’s about people feeling deeply; it’s about life.”
The play unravels over the course of a few years and revolves around the everyday decisions and struggles of the Prozorov family and their friends. The characters face boredom, isolation, unhappiness and disillusionment. They struggle with everyday frustrations and enjoy everyday bliss — nothing out of the ordinary.
“Chekhov is hard to do because actors are always taught to find a contest or a struggle,” Poole says. “The actor has to find that the conflict is not huge; they are small struggles. In all those small decisions you realize that they have made choices as to how to live their lives.”
Though the actors struggled to understand their characters’ perspectives, certain students came to love the depth Chekhov endows upon his protagonists.
“The tone, sentiment and endurance of Chekhov’s characters are truly amazing,” Perez says. “Vershinin, for example, is a charismatic ladies’ man, but he reflects and philosophizes about life. I feel like I could meet very similar people in my everyday experience.”
Chekhov’s characters mirror real life and face the same issues that most provincial Russians faced at the onset of the 20th century. Poole says she wanted her actors to truly understand Russian tradition in order to create an authentic production.
“This is an educational theater and we introduce our students to ways to understand the context of a play,” Poole says. “We want them to understand the culture and setting of the piece.”
Poole took the cast and crew to Chicago’s Russian Tea Time for afternoon tea. They ate Russian pastries and drank Russian tea. They were introduced to Russian culture and tradition to help give them a deeper understanding of Chekhov’s play.
“We did everything possible to create an authentic representation of Chekhov’s work,” says cast member Marco Naggar, a Communication junior. “We all picked one of our lines from the play, the one we thought was the essence of our character, and learned it from the Russian text.”
Kellogg alum Pavel Dorosevich, who is fluent in Russian, taught the actors how to speak their lines in the language. The result is a seamless integration of Chekhov’s original text into the production.
Poole’s production also integrates a Russian waltz into the play. Poole asked Dorosevich, a dancer and choreographer for BLAST, Northwestern’s ballroom dance company, to attend rehearsal to teach the actors a waltz.
Dorosevich’s waltz evolved into a flawlessly executed, two-minute dance scene that captures the essence of the characters’ attitudes. The actors twirl each other around, laughing merrily to the traditional Russian music.
“This was a unique experience for me because I am used to teaching semi-professional or professional dancers,” Dorosevich says. “I was impressed with the actors’ attitudes because they were never ashamed to fail. They are extremely motivated and they absorb everything.”
“Three Sisters” is playing at the Josephine Louis Theater May 13, 14 and 18-21 at 8 p.m.; May 15, 22 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 for students, $18 for seniors and faculty and staff and $20 for the public. Tickets are available at ticketweb.com.
Weinberg sophomore Michael Burgner is a PLAY writer. He can be reached at [email protected].